PA 13920 - Economic Injury Disaster Loans Available to Small Businesses in Pennsylvania Due to Severe Winter Storms

WASHINGTON – Low-interest economic injury disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) are available to Pennsylvania small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small aquaculture businesses and most private non-profit organizations affected by the severe winter storms between Feb. 3 - 28, 2014.

Acting SBA Administrator Marianne O’Brien Markowitz made the loans available following a disaster declaration request from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett on March 27. The declaration covers Chester and Montgomery counties and the adjacent counties of Berks, Bucks, Delaware, Lancaster, Lehigh and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland.

“The Small Business Administration is strongly committed to providing the most effective and customer-focused response possible to help small businesses and non-profits in Pennsylvania with their federal disaster loans,” said Markowitz. “Getting businesses and communities up and running after a disaster is our highest priority at SBA.”

“The SBA can help affected small businesses and non-profit organizations overcome their economic losses by offering working capital loans, but the help cannot start until they submit an SBA disaster loan application to us,” said David Dickson, SBA’s Pennsylvania district director.

Eligible entities may qualify for loans up to $2 million. The SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. The rates on these loans are 4.00 percent for small businesses and 2.625 percent for non-profit organizations with terms up to 30 years. The SBA determines eligibility for the loans based on the size and type of business and its financial resources.

Applications and program information are available by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955 (1-800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing), or by sending an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov. Loan applications can also be downloaded from the SBA’s website at www.sba.gov/disaster. Completed applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.

The deadline to return economic injury applications is January 2, 2015.